I Never Do That….. (and other lies goalies
tell themselves about their bad habits)

Menu

(sidebar)

Over the 30+ years I’ve been coaching
goalies, I ‘ve developed a pretty good eye for seeing little habits
that hurt a goalie’s development. Often when I tell a goalie of
something I saw, he or she will say “Oh no, I NEVER do that”. When
it’s caught on video, the comment then becomes “Oh…..I guess I do
that”. What are some of the details that goalies lie to themselves
about? Let’s look at some common ones:

I Never Back
In Too Soon:

One of the most common bad habits is
backing in too early. Goalies are rarely aware that by slowly
slinking back into the net they are making their job tougher. The
weight is on the heels when a goalie glides backwards, passing,
deking and scoring lanes open up and the hands often drop too close
to the body. Patience is one of the hardest things to practice. Let
the player get closer so the shooter gets uncomfortable about the
lack of space. Don’t let them off the hook by retreating when it’s
not necessary!

I Never Go Down Too Early:

If a shooter drops their shoulder and you hit the ice like
Humpty Dumpty, you will get walked around a lot and get beat on the
corners. Sometimes I do a drill where I just stand there like a
statue and don’t move. Goalies get all antsy waiting for me to move
and they wind up leaning, dropping or opening up before I shoot. If
a shooter has not shot yet, there is a good reason for it…you! If
you’re not telegraphing anything and you’ve done a great job hiding
the net with your body, the shooter is confused and is hoping you
will move first. Don’t blink and give the shooter an obvious place
to aim for. With the exception of a natural goal scorer, most
shooters are dumb and simply shoot where they see space. On goal
mouth dekes, try taking a lateral half-step before going into a
butterfly slide so you can stay with a shooter better. When you take
too long of a stride into a butterfly slide against a close deke,
the shooter can see a lot of holes. The half-step gets your body
past the top of the crease to the side the player is deking to and
then the butterfly slide can be tighter.

I Always
Have The Short Side Angle Covered

No, you don’t…. A
lot of goalies “think” they have the short side protected, but it is
often wide open. Shooters like to take the easy way out. The short
side is an easier shot than going to the front of the net through
traffic or shooting across the goalie’s body. I’ve always taught the
short side theory of the angles where you make sure you line up your
back foot or shoulder on pucks from the face-off dot to the boards
(right foot on left side and left foot on right side). This gives
you full short side coverage to discourage that shot and once the
puck moves past your body’s mid-point(I call this the Midpoint
Rule), you move laterally and then center on the puck like normal.
If the shooter is stupid enough to shoot at the short side when you
have it covered it’s an easy save. If you are lined up too much in
the center angle on short side shots, shooters will get you leaning
away and then come back short side. That’s a much more difficult
save to make.

My Hands Are Always Up And Ready

No, you are probably lazy…. A lot of goalies rest their hands on
their pads and only get them in position when they think a shot is
about to be taken. If someone shoots in a screen or shoots before
the goalie is ready, it’s either a goal or a bad rebound. It’s
tiring to keep your hands up and out, but it should be automatic
once the other team crosses the far blueline. If your hands are
always ready, you can handle surprises.

My 5 Hole
Coverage Is Solid

Are you sure you bring your elbows
in, keep the hands ahead and bring your chin down as the puck comes
into the belly or between the knees? If you aren’t consistent with
these good habits, pucks will sneak through the 5 Hole. If your chin
is up and your hands are too wide and your back is straight, it is
very difficult to create a tight seal between the knees as well as
the armpit/rib areas. If you have consistent form with your
butterfly, 5 Hole’s don’t have to be much of an issue. Also, if you
butterfly while retreating into the net it is harder to shut down
the 5 Hole than if your weight was leaning forward onto the balls of
the feet.

I Own The Top Shelves!

I
may beg to differ…. Many goalies rely on reflexes to get a top shelf
catching glove or blocker save. These saves should be an example of
the efficiency in the way you move your body instead of a great
windshield wiper-like Hail Mary save. If you keep your hands ahead
of your body and keep the gloves at a forward diagonal from the nose
to the thumb and turn the head and back shoulder in the direction of
the save, you will have consistent hands. The rising trajectory of
the puck is relatively consistent from the hash-marks and lower
face-off circles. If the catching glove wrist is turned slightly
downward so the pocket is in the lane with the rising puck and the
goalie’s body turns smoothly without throwing him or herself at the
puck, the catch can be very clean. On the blocker side, too many
goalies do “shoulder rolls” and the rib area is wide open for goals
that handcuff the goalie. Keep the blocker ahead of the body, turn
the catching glove shoulder and head in the direction of the save
and meet the puck early so a slight snap of the blocker will send
the puck explosively to the corner of the defensive zone. If you
swing the whole arm at the puck the armpit area by the ribs will be
wide open. As with a lot of goaltending moves, less is more. The
more efficient you are, the more consistent you will be.